I remember the first time I drove a GTI, back in the late 70s, and nothing was quite like it: affordable enough that I could at least imagine owning one, and with a taut liveliness I've come to associate with German cars ever since. Getting our hands on the latest hot Golf, the R, took me back. Our full review is here and, side from the suckage that is the car's head unit, it scored very well.

We assume "everyone" is out there texting/Facebooking/emailing and driving but in fact the observed percentages of drivers doing so is quite small. That belies the fact that it nonetheless rolls up into a large number of cars that are accidents waiting to happen. We explain in this episode and the full data is here.

We've had a few emails about viewers' car batteries dying overnight. So when I found myself diagnosing exactly that problem in one of the cars in the Cooley Garage it made for the perfect time to lay out what I think is the best video How To on tackling the problem you are going to see. Bookmark it at the Archive tab of CNETOnCars.com -- you're going to need it one day, I fear.